Who Plans The Rehearsal Dinner?

I am MOH in a wedding. A bunch of the bridal party and the bride’s family got together to talk about her bridal shower. Her FMIL was there. The FMIL spoke about her plans for a rehearsal dinner. I know reccently my friend (“the bride”) was saying she wasnt even sure if she wanted one. But from what I gathered at the meeting her FMIL already booked it at a resturant..

I dont want to get in the middle. I am just wonder how common is it, for the bride to plan it? Whenever I looked up wedding traditions I have found that it the groom’s side usually pays for the rehearsal dinner. Does this mean the bride does not plan it?

I do plan on giving my friend a heads up… she does not like surprises :-/

@BM-is-a-TERRIBLE-acronym: Traditionally, yes, the in-laws plan the rehearsal dinner. These days that is less common, but it is definitely not something she can say “no” to without causing issues (unless her FMIL is very easy-going). This is really the only time her FI’s famiy gets to do anything related to the wedding, so she should just let it go.

My FIL’s are hosting an planning the rehersal dinner. They got the menu and let us select one of the 2 dinner selections (our rehersal will be during lent so seafood has to be one dish) but they have done everything else for the rehearsal dinner. our dinner will be for the bridal party and all out of town guest.